IoA/BM Medieval Seminar: Victoria Ziegler

In the second half of the ninth century occupation shifted between Lundenwic and Lundenburh, an event heralded by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 886 as King Alfred’s ‘reoccupation’ of London. Recent archaeological research suggests that the causes, processes and effects of the move between wic and burh were more complex and nuanced than the traditional historical narrative suggests. This paper reviews the archaeological evidence for the shift between the two settlements, highlighting the possibility of cultural and/or temporal hiatuses in occupation and considering whether London’s regeneration was necessarily dependent on the actions of the elite. Other contemporary examples of non-linear urban development are reassessed; were urban hiatus and translocation independent local occurrences or more widespread phenomena relating to the complex processes of urbanisation taking place during the early medieval period?